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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Gin-a-Rita, a color-changing cocktail

Cocktails these days are a whole lot more interesting than back in the day when it was a shot-and-a-beer or a basic whisky-and-mixer.Now we've got fancy drinks, mixologists, and flair bartenders who spin and juggle bottles and do all sorts of fancy tricks before handing over your drink.I like a little show, but there's no way I'm going to be juggling expensive bottles of hootch. Trust me, no one wants to clean up that mess.This time, the "show" is provided by B'lure cocktail concentrate. It's sort of a like bitters, and it's made from a flower extract, and it's blue.Or, I should say that it's blue until it meets up with something acidic. Like, let's say ... a drink that has lemon or lime juice.Now, that's fun, right?But here's the deal. The color changes pretty quickly, so to have an impact, you need to add the extract while your guests are watching. Otherwise, you're serving them a pink or purple drink - the color you end up with depends on the drink.So far, I've only poured and mixed - but it would be fun to add the B'lure to ice cubes, or perhaps use them in a layered cocktail, so the guests would do the final mixing to change the colors.This cocktail is very similar to a margarita, but with gin instead of tequila. It works. Trust me. I've been testing this cocktail for a loooong time.You might want to adjust the sweetness on this to your liking. The tartness depends, of course, on how tart your lime juice is, but you also need to take into consideration how tart you like your drinks ... so make it more sweet or more sour. If this seems too strong for you, you can also add sparkling water or soda to tame it a bit.As far as the mixing, you could add the B'lure the way I did, or start with the B'lure in the glass with some water or soda and then add the gin and lime. Either way works. Just have fun with it!And - hey - if you don't happen to have any B'lure hanging around, this makes a tasty drink without the added color!Gin-a-Ritaby Donna 1 ounce Tanqueray gin1 ounce lime juice1/2 ounce agave syrup1 dropper-full B-lure mixed with 1 ounce waterCombine the gin, lime juice, and agave in a short squat glass filled with ice. Mix well.Pour the B-lure mixture into the cocktail while your guests watch. Garnish with something fun. I used a slice of starfruit.Serve.

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